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Aurelia
Aurelia was a large, heavily populated, distant colony world of The Royal Allegiance. History First colonised in 2540, Aurelia was a clean, busy but pleasant world. Its climate was renowned for being one of the best in the Allegiance and, despite its distance from the core of Allegiance space, it was well-known. Its main exports were precious gems and rare minerals, of which there were several substantial deposits around the planet. These were factors in the relative wealth of the planet, which benefited both the rich and those who were not so well off. The planet's population of 334 million were ranked as the second happiest planetary community in the Allegiance, beaten only by Haven. Conversely, the core city world of Avalon came around 270,000th. In 2582 the planet was selected to hold the Forerunner vessel that crashed on Thera, as it had been reconstructed and made spaceworthy once more. Military planets, which tended to be the more important core worlds such as Avalon and Britannia, were ruled out because of the threat of attack. The vessel was spiritually valuable to Therans because it was this ship that led to the Allegiance's existence, and it was their legacy from the Forerunners. It was kept docked at the military facility in the restricted zone of the system, which protected a military facility inside a gas giant. Its location was not known to the general population. In 2649 the Royal Botannical Gardens were opened on the planet, a massive royal garden open to the public which housed hundreds of thousands of varieties of plants, trees and flowers. The world was chosen because of its temperate but gentle climate. In early 2735, the Queen's mother made an unofficial visit to the planet, to see the royal gardens, which she enjoyed. Unfortunately her visit coincided with a Swarm Invasion. Hundreds of millions of civilians and soldiers died on the planet including the Queen Mother. The Forerunner vessel entered the fray, out of desperation rather than anything else. It accounted for over forty confirmed Swarm warship kills before it was overwhelmed and destroyed. The vast majority of the civilian casualties were from the destruction of the orbital habitat facilities and the Swarm sending thousands of landing craft to the planet while the battle in space raged on. After the battle, the Heart of the Allegiance was broken, and public support for the war both inside the Allegiance and beyond its borders skyrocketed, despite the Theran's inherent opposition to war. The massacre at Aurelia continued to be used as powerful propaganda for the remainder of the war, which lasted another 145 years before its conclusion. Location Aurelia was located in the Kaeden System, a star system comprising 11 planets in regular elliptical orbits and one planet with an irregular one. Aurelia was the largest non-gas giant planet in the system and the only one with a life-sustainable atmosphere. It was the fourth planet from the star, which was where the system got its name from. There was a large military research station inside the seventh planet's atmosphere, which was a gas giant. As a result the region had restricted access. It was here that the Forerunner vessel was supposedly permanently docked. There was also a large trading station orbiting the third planet in the system, a small, hot uninhabitable planet. It was a candidate for the massive terraforming programme that was cancelled in 2733 after the advent of the Swarm War. Terraforming hopes were further dashed after the system itself was invaded. Physical Features Aurelia had one large continent, which spanned over half of the planet. Its interior was intersected by numerous large lakes, which sometimes met the oceans to form seas. The planet's one ocean took up the remainder of the space. Around 42% of the planet was water, while the other 58% was land mass. The vast majority of the planet's surface was expansive, dense forests and massive flat, green plains, though there was a large mountain range on the far northwest of the continent. Human Features Cities on Aurelia were numerous and large. They were predominantly located near the coasts of the lakes or seas inside the continent, though occasionally they sat on the coast, or not near any bodies of water at all- though this was rare. The capital, Preston, was located on the shores of one of the lakes in the west of the continent, surrounded by numerous smaller settlements. The Royal Gardens were located a few miles from the city's edge open to anyone. In the interior of the continent, in the midst of the vast plains, was an Army training centre and barracks, housing up to 400,000 troops at one time. The Naval Garrision was located on the east coast, and offered berths for ships capable of landing. It was linked by space tether to a dock in orbit which could accomodate the largest of ships. The Marine barracks and training centre was located on this orbital facility also. Category:Planets Category:Planets of The Royal Allegiance